In this literacy narrative I tried to appeal to the kids that are coming from immigrant parents. Kids or even adults that had immigrant family members and they have a great understanding on how they act in their new country.  By giving examples on how my aunt acts around people and giving them some of her actions that they can fully understand that that person is definitely an immigrant. I don’t know if this is true but my family is very nationalisic and they love to talk about how great their home is and want to spread that love around them. They love to keep the same energy, the same vibe around them as if they were back at home. This might be a mental thing where they refuse to accept America as home or that they truly miss the place they call home. I find it that every immigrant family made a sacrifice to come to America and start a new life in a forgien country. I was trying to tell the reader that it doesn’t matter how much people assimilate themselves into a society, immigrants have a way to still implement their cultural ways into their daily lives. LIke how people join the army they are disciplined until they are forced to change into the better; in where as moving to entirely new country where people aren’t your friends or family and you still make a way. You have to change yourself entirely  to survive in New York City and for immigrant families to do that and still have the cultural presence is the quintessential of America.

I have taken away that language isn’t something set in stone, people can create a new language tomorrow and it can gain millions of users in a short amount of time. I also learned that when people write something they have a purpose that they are trying to convey to the reader and it is the job of the reader to piece it together. I have a class where we break down books, scripts that have captured their surroundings and they paint a picture around it. A Russian man writes about how he lost his nose and you have to read the whole book to understand that in Russia appearance was a very important thing , it didn’t matter if you truly had wealth only if you looked the part. The author painted an entire story trying to explain the economic situations of Russia with just a nose and I found that amazing. Everything has a purpose and as the reader you have to deceiver all of the messages because everyone can take different messages from it. I also learned that I always have to be concise with my wording because too many words can bore the reader and not get your message along clearer.

  Language and literacy have been influenced throughout history by the culture and society that surrounds it. Even though in America, where English is the primary language, there are many different accents or dialects of the language. I remember back in 8th grade, and my teacher introduced us to the mixing pot. She posed the question, “Is America a melting pot or a mixing bowl.” We had no idea about the complexity of this question; she broke down the American culture’s essence. She explained that America is only America because the multiple cultures of people that immigrate are placed into this small country. When the numerous cultures are kept so close to each other, they have to melt together. She taught us that at first, we were a mixing bowl and every culture had a border where the others would not cross, and it would create so much tension between teacher culture. However, the mixing bowl turned into a melting pot when different variables like poverty were involved. This forced the cultures to mix and bond over time, and new traditions were born, new languages were created, and new cultures rose.

  Although, before America was a mixing pot, it took lots of time for cultures to melt together and start something new. In contemporary times you see the mix of two cultures in our daily lives; if you ask someone their nationality, you could hear an absurd blend like Asian and Jamaican, and that’s only the tip of the iceberg. 

People started to generate their languages within this melting pot, giving them great pride within themselves. I noticed this when one year after the Christmas season and most of the family members went home. My aunt had come over with a pile of papers and envelopes. She said we had to write letters to every family member that came over and gave us money. One of the problems was that some of the members that came couldn’t read perfect English, so we had to accommodate their literacy needs. This began my curiosity about the different forms English there are. Before I would always think that someone is illiterate and never how to speak English properly. However, my aunt used to get agitated when people would ask her why she speaks like that, and she would raise her chest and say her origins with pride. People would get a clear understanding that she has a deep love for her people and where she came from; they would then ask her more about her home and be so astonished by her story. She would feel so satisfied telling people about family, and how it shaped her into the person, she is now. I remembered how the first letter I wrote had perfect English for a thirteen-year-old. When she read the letter, I remembered the big smile on her face immediately after ripping it up. She said the language was off, that they wouldn’t understand. We spent hours on that table, my cousin and I writing letters over and over again. Through repetition, I thought that they’d been in America for decades, and they learned this deformed version of English. I finally asked my aunt, and she told me that they separated when they immigrated to America, and they were different areas that had their own culture around them. She taught me that the people around them spoke a particular English type where they lived, and they learned from that. Then she told me when they all came together for Christmas, they couldn’t understand each other that well, and it took time for them to understand each other. They kept their patience and learned so much from each other from only understanding their languages. I found that fantastic because, with patience and compassion for each other, the language barrier was destroyed, and everyone understood each other.